Over the hour of my slow journey that took me back to where I started, the sun lowered behind the trees, Victorian houses and bungalows to the west until, quick suddenly, the air exhaled and the temperature dropped. Now the water was warmer than the sky, and each immersion was a little bit of a return to the womb.
I did my usual 18 laps, alternating between breast stroke and side stroke, and for good luck, I added one more lap at the end. While I plan to relocate to an indoor swimming pool, I will miss the white-golden light on the parking garage under construction to the east, the gaggles of swim-walkers in lanes next to me as they talk about preschools and vacations, the super-fish little kids who zoom up and down the lanes, and the changing temperature of air and water.
Today, the pools goes to the dogs. Literally. It’s a pooch plunge this afternoon, and so I will be back after all, this time to watch my dog doggy-paddle. Then the pool is drained, and slowly, in the month to come, summer also.
